I had a well worn Model 12 Winchester many years ago, in the uncommon if not rare 16 gauge. A great gun. only problem being local stores seldom had 16 gauge shells in stock and I never found any slug loads in 16.
This was a take down model with barrel the same length as the stock and receiver. With the magazine tube pulled out for take down it came exactly even with the muzzle.

When you watch old cartoons of hillbillies firing their rifles and the barrel oscillates then shortens before spitting out the bullet that's pretty much an exaggeration of what the more slender barrels of some high powered rifles do in real life.

In my spare time I'm plugging away trying to get the stock finished up. I did not fully strip the stock just some touch up and coated the stock with tru oil so far four coats. When it dries I'll scuff the stock down with steel wool too much "gloss" if I do not break through the finish. I'll be good to go If I break through the finish. I will have to apply another coat.

I've read that they were/are very accurate but must have quite a kick for a 16 year old.

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Mine is very accurate, if I am in practice I can hit the 10 ring four times out of five at 100 yds. in the prone position. The practice part is the toughest. It was quite a kick for a sixteen year old and still can be for a thirty-seven year old. If you are looking for a good BP rifle and don't care about the construction being authentic to the time period go with a T/C.

I built a lesser brand Hawken replica from a kit for the son of a friend who didn't think he could do as good a job as I would.
After building it I test fired it a few times and found it quiet accurate at the short range I was using, maybe 25 yards. Not a real test of its abilities of course.
I only had FFFG pistol grade Black Powder on hand so I used only light loads.

As for recoil any muzzle loader can be used with a charge tailored for the shooter.
A 40 gr charge with round ball is about equal to a Winchester .44-40 in power.
You can go right on up to equal the big Sharps .50 if you use a heavy conical bullet and a heavy charge.

Few of the Hunters of that era used heavy charges, they could not afford to use more powder than necessary , cost of powder being less of a factor than being limited to what you could bring with you into the wilderness.
Lead ball could be recovered from game and melted down again to cast more bullets, but powder and caps were not something the average guy could make for himself.

I've been considering building a matchlock then converting it to wheel lock using a lock of my own design.
A French gunsmith made a few wheel lock pistols well into the cartridge era, locks of his design being more reliable and faster than even caplocks and very neatly sealed against the elements. These are of course extremely rare guns and were even in that era.
The secret is to use Iron pyrites instead of flint.

I built a lesser brand Hawken replica from a kit for the son of a friend who didn't think he could do as good a job as I would.
After building it I test fired it a few times and found it quiet accurate at the short range I was using, maybe 25 yards. Not a real test of its abilities of course.
I only had FFFG pistol grade Black Powder on hand so I used only light loads.

As for recoil any muzzle loader can be used with a charge tailored for the shooter.
A 40 gr charge with round ball is about equal to a Winchester .44-40 in power.
You can go right on up to equal the big Sharps .50 if you use a heavy conical bullet and a heavy charge.

Few of the Hunters of that era used heavy charges, they could not afford to use more powder than necessary , cost of powder being less of a factor than being limited to what you could bring with you into the wilderness.
Lead ball could be recovered from game and melted down again to cast more bullets, but powder and caps were not something the average guy could make for himself.

I've been considering building a matchlock then converting it to wheel lock using a lock of my own design.
A French gunsmith made a few wheel lock pistols well into the cartridge era, locks of his design being more reliable and faster than even caplocks and very neatly sealed against the elements. These are of course extremely rare guns and were even in that era.
The secret is to use Iron pyrites instead of flint.

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"I've been considering building a matchlock then converting it to wheel lock using a lock of my own design" Sounds like a interesting project.
Good Luck

For now the stock for the Interarms is good enough to use the rifle. I'm at a stage with the stock if I keep going with the finish it will be all down hill. The stock needs to be sanded down to bare wood then then the finish work. Now I'm in standby mode waiting on the refinisher to complete the metal finishing. Remington did not do shooters any favors with the butt pad on the laminated stock.

The butt pad and spacer is glued on along with two screws holding it on. I removed the two screws then tried to remove it no luck I managed to separate half of the rubber pad from the spacer half way off it started to tear. I stopped and spent about an hour repairing that BS. I had some epoxy and that worked to glue the rubber back on the spacer. When I refinish the stock. The Remington pad will go away.

That looks amazing. Just curious..how do you plan on replacing the butt pad?

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Thanks
I have a Compound Miter Saw. I figure the easiest way would be remove the two screws in the pad and cut through the black plastic spacer close to the stock. Then sand the remainder of the spacer off to the wood stock with a belt sander, and grind and sand the new pad to fit the stock. Pain in the A$$, With the old pad removed it will be much easier to refinish the stock properly.

Thanks
I have a Compound Miter Saw. I figure the easiest way would be remove the two screws in the pad and cut through the black plastic spacer close to the stock. Then sand the remainder of the spacer off to the wood stock with a belt sander, and grind and sand the new pad to fit the stock. Pain in the A$$, With the old pad removed it will be much easier to refinish the stock properly.

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Since you are going to refinish the stock anyway a better method would be to cut away all the rubber and plastic you can then dissolve the glue with a solvent.
Epoxy can be dissolved with vinegar. You could use acetone but you'd have the problem of fumes. Acetone would dissolve the remaining plastic as well.
Extra care must be taken that you don't de-laminate the stock.

Since you are going to refinish the stock anyway a better method would be to cut away all the rubber and plastic you can then dissolve the glue with a solvent.
Epoxy can be dissolved with vinegar. You could use acetone but you'd have the problem of fumes. Acetone would dissolve the remaining plastic as well.
Extra care must be taken that you don't de-laminate the stock.

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Thanks for the tips I'll figure something out.

One of my friends mentioned to get these glued on pads off. Is grab the plastic spacer on the recoil pad in a vice that the jaws are protected with wood. And then rock the stock back and forth. I tried that no luck for me. I was worried that I may take a chunk out of the stock.

I have a wood workers vise that has wood lined jaws no luck with that. When I had the recoil pad in the vice the rubber was breaking away from the spacer then I tried to cut along the spacer to get the rubber off no joy with that it stared to tear the rubber away from the spacer.

At that point I had to glue the rubber back on with epoxy and clamp that with a long wood clamp that worked out fine. However I had to deal with shaping the rubber to the spacer. All in all that was a in the A$$..

The finish I did is just a temp fix to use the rifle. I did not strip off the old finish off I just touched up the bare wood and coated the complete stock with tru-oil. Half A$$ fix but good enough for now.

I'm thinking about my next project which is another Mauser. A 1909 Argentine This stock is awesome fits me perfectly. Not crazy about the high gloss finish that will be removed and I will do a high end matte/satin finish. This stock has a lot of figure in the wood. But the best part it also has straight grain through the wrist to the end of the fore end. For me is was much more cost effective and easier to start with a used stock vise buying a blank and starting from scratch.

This stock had a Mauser VZ24 in it. If I can figure out the barrel contour of the stock it should be close to a drop fit. I emailed the seller of the stock and I'm trying to purchase the barrel or barreled action that was in the stock the seller parted out the rifle. I'm sure to get the most bang out of his investment. Anyway I'm glad he did at least I picked up the stock.
Here's a picture of the original build with the VZ24 before it was parted out now that rifle is history